View full sizeLynn Ischay, The Plain DealerA record-warm day in Northeast Ohio made it a perfect day for Gina Meyer, 18, of Hambden, to toss a stick into the Lake Erie water for her one-year-old Pit bull, Nuk'em. The temperature had hit 88 degrees by mid-afternoon, breaking the record of 85 set in 1949. Meyer said her dog loves the water and it's the perfect way for both of them to relax and cool off.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The weather records keep coming in Northeast Ohio.

Today's high temperature of 88 degrees -- with the possibility of climbing to 89 or 90 by 4 p.m. -- smashed the old record of 85 set in 1949, according to National Weather Service records.

The new heat record for this date follows after a spring season anamoly: The first time since 1946 that the average high temperature in April was cooler than in March.

And that came after a record-warm March in Cleveland (as well as at hundreds and hundreds of NWS stations throughout the country.)

March 2012 was simply the hottest March in more than 100 years of weather records kept for Northeast Ohio.

The details:

61.3 degrees average high (previous record: 60.8 degrees in 1946.)

Four straight 80-degree days

10 straight days over 70

and a full 15 straight days (April 11 through 25) with a high temperature of at least 60 degrees

The warmest on record for daily lows (30.3 degrees), topping the previous high for average low readings in 1931-32 (29.5 degrees) and eight degrees above the all-time average.

First for days above freezing (74), topping the record of 73 set in 1952-53. However, because of Leap Year, there was one more day this winter. There usually are about 54 above-freezing days out of either 88 or 89.

Tied for first with 1952-53 for the fewest days in which it stayed at freezing or below (15). Typically, there are 34 such days.

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